Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) on Sunday called for “consequences” for Israel to reduce civilian deaths and allow more humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Asked on CBS News' “Face the Nation” whether the Israeli government would face consequences if it helped block aid to the Gaza Strip for political reasons, Van Hollen said: “Yes, I think so there must be consequences.”
“And you know, [Secretary of State Antony Blinken] and President Biden was right to insist on two things: a reduction in the unacceptable number of civilian casualties and much more cooperation in providing humanitarian assistance. We didn’t see that,” Van Hollen added.
Van Hollen, along with Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), spent the last few days in the Middle East, where they visited the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza. The border crossing is where most humanitarian aid enters the besieged Gaza Strip, although several humanitarian organizations have stressed that the aid is only a fraction of what is needed for civilians.
Van Hollen suggested that aid is not reaching the region due to a political decision by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“Two big things are happening. One of them is the unnecessarily cumbersome process of going through the Israeli vetting process, which I believe is the result of political decisions made by the Netanyahu coalition,” he said.
Van Hollen said items such as water filtration systems were rejected at a warehouse, explaining how he observed trucks being turned away at the intersection with the help of UNICEF.
“And if one item on one truck is rejected, the entire truck is rejected,” he said. The other big problem concerns Gaza, the so-called conflict resolution process, which is just a fancy name for those who provide humanitarian aid to have the assurance that they can provide it without being killed.”
“And according to all international ones [nongovernmental organizations] “The people we have spoken about, working in conflict zones around the world, have never seen a worse process for ensuring the safe delivery of humanitarian assistance,” he added.
Margaret Brennan, host of CBS's “Face the Nation,” noted that France and Jordan decided to drop aid into Gaza because of problems on land. Asked whether the U.S. should do the same, Van Hollen said, “Well, I think we should consider all means to try to bring much-needed humanitarian assistance to Gaza,” while noting that there is none large airports.
The war between Israel and the militant group Hamas has been raging for more than three months after Hamas killed an estimated 1,200 people on October 7. Around 240 people are said to have been kidnapped by Hamas in the attack.
As of Sunday, at least 22,835 people have reportedly been killed in the coastal enclave since the beginning of October, Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry said.
U.S. officials have increased pressure on Israel in recent weeks to allow larger amounts of aid to flow to the region, while stressing that Israel has the right to defend itself. Still, the Biden administration has called on Israel publicly and behind the scenes to limit the war and pay more attention to civilian deaths.
The United Nations Security Council passed a resolution last month to increase aid to the Gaza Strip. The US did not vote for the resolution, but did not block it either.
Israel opened its Kerem Shalom border crossing into Gaza last month, creating a second entry point for aid, The Associated Press reported.
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